This Time of Year by Missouri Dalton

Blurb:
A dragon is loose in Chicago. Howl would be more concerned if the case didn’t keep interrupting his lunch reservations. Partnered up with the distractingly handsome Detective Reyes, Howl is going to have to pull himself out of his melancholy if he wants to solve the case and get back to his Christmas plans, getting drunk while watching It’s a Wonderful Life, alone. Well, not if Detective Reyes has anything to say about it.

Review:
Howl is a wizard whose lover died a couple of years ago. Howl is finding it difficult to let go of the past and instead cocoons himself with familiar things and adopts a haughty attitude to deter anyone who might want to get close to him. He’s partnered with Reyes in order to solve the mystery of a dragon loose in the city and tries hard to ignore his attraction to his new partner.

I ended up having mixed views about this book. I really liked the character of Howl and the way he had made steps to protect himself from getting hurt in the future. His actions were understandable and I warmed to his prickly nature. There’s a bit of amusement in the story over Howl’s affectations which Reyes seems to see right through and I also liked how Howl was able to show his worth as an investigator to Reyes.

The mystery plot was fairly easily done, with a few ‘oh I know a person who can help’ moments. However, since the main point of the story seems to be Howl’s emotional journey, I didn’t mind that the mystery was a bit weak, especially as everything was described clearly and there were a few action moments.

What didn’t work as well for me was the romance aspect. It seemed a bit tacked on the end and because we never see Reyes point of view, I didn’t really pick up on any particular attraction. We are told later that Reyes has asked Howl out several times and I wished that had been mentioned earlier in the story.

Overall, this story is still worth reading if you have a few spare minutes simply for the character of Howl but it’s not without its flaws.